Pitching and defense win championships. Today, the Cubs had neither. Strike that. This season, the Cubs have had neither.
Carlos Pena, at least, was clearly invigorated by the team’s decision to withdraw him from waivers – he had a couple nice “hustle” hits (including a bunt single against the shift), stole a base, and had a great diving stab in the field. Marlon Byrd had a solo homer. Otherwise, he was busy leaving guys on base.
Brett Taylor is the lead writer at Bleacher Nation, and can also be found as Bleacher Nation on Twitter and on Facebook.
Recent Message Board Posts
19 May 2013
With Matt Garza returning and Scott Feldman/Travis Wood dominating, could the Cubs claim to have the best starting five in baseball?
(1 Comment)
18 May 2013
Scott Feldman with another great start, and the Cubs' bats went off.
(81 Comments)
18 May 2013
He'll start Tuesday against the Pirates. Hooray for the long-awaited return.
(34 Comments)
18 May 2013
You may have received the survey yesterday, as I did. If you care about the in-game experience at Wrigley, you'll probably want to take the time to respond.
(20 Comments)
18 May 2013
Darwin Barney never had a chance, and the Cubs lost a great opportunity to tie the game.
(22 Comments)
17 May 2013
Matt Harvey did Matt Harvey things, and the Cubs did "Cubes" things.
(68 Comments)
17 May 2013
David Price has a triceps issue, which means the Cubs can trade for him for even cheaper, right?! Not exactly.
(51 Comments)
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That may be one of the best ERA’s I’ve seen in a while with a 6-10 record..
Clearly, you haven’t checked in lately with your friendly neighborhood Fister.
Could that link text be more indistinguishable from the regular text?
It is technically a different color…
Ah, so it can.
I should look into making that contrast a bit more stark.
Yup he’s all the talk here in the mitten state
I can’t put my finger on it, but there’s something about that dude.
since the hendryless pixie dust wore off, that means we have to fire Quade now..
Iowa is now playing LaHair in left…grooming perhaps?
Probably trying to ensure that he actually sees some action if he comes up in September.
He only needs one more HR to set the single season HR record in Iowa. Hope he hits this benchmark before he moves on. Unfortunately there has been a rash of ‘power’ hitters that have succeeded mightily in Iowa only to make minimal impacts at the next level. Hoffpauir, Jake Fox, Tyler Colvin (cough, cough), Hee Sop Choi, Tuffy Rhodes….
Well I’m for one am rooting for Lehair to get a shot w/ Cubs He has proven himself in the minors and was never really given a valid opportunity with a mlb team. Yes he is 28 will be 29 in November but Lehair needs a chance to show what he can do !!
You’d think Quade would move Byrd out of the 5 hole, given his recent decision to leave everyone in the history of the game on base… But no, that would make too much since wouldn’t it Mr. Quade? What a big slut
And I thought I had heard every Quade insult in the book. . .
Did not see “slut” coming. Probably in the top-five of unexpected insults.
Right next to “long-haired hippie.
He looks like Krang from Ninja Turtles.
Check out Number 9 on this list http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=jp-passan_25_things_you_did_not_know_about_baseball_082511
7 f-ing errors by a pitcher, how pathetic, thats gotta be a record isnt it??
And aren’t the majority of them thowing errors? You would think that is the one thing a pitcher ought to be able to do well.
Probably didn’t field nearly as many bunts in the AL.
Good point, I hadn’t thought of that. More Coffee!!!
he needs to f*n calm down on the mound! he was throwing balls to Pena at 1st base at nearly 95mph, repeatedly ..Len&Bob were making jokes about, i believe Muskat tweeted about a radar gun being needed ..and of course it lead to an error.. enable, enable, ..fail
I don’t want to admit this but I’m worried that Garza’s passion/energy/excitement could become a problem as he gets older and loses a few mph on his pitches. If we never had Z and saw how being emotional on the mound at first looks like passion and drive, but can be a warning sign for future meltdowns and disappointment I would think twice of his antics. Is anyone else concerned? He really does pitch himself into emotional situations and would anyone be surprised if he has a full blown tantrum next yearvif he continues to be inconsistent. I hope the next GM and manager find a way to help him control his emotions and transfer that energy into top quality pitching. Im not panicking but concerned- thank you Z for making me cautious with passionate behavior!
Don’t confuse passion with antics.
I agree but there was a time when everyone was all pro about Z’s passion
I still am all pro about it.
You complain about leaving 20+ LOB, we cut that in half, and that’s still not good enough? Sheesh.
Ps 20 kids last night for law school orientation went to a luxury box for the cards\pirates. I had a quiet dinner with an old guy and 4 nerds.
Wow Jeff Smar is having a great year, by my standards anyways. Even though it seems that he only pitchs in low risk situations, which there is a lot of those for the cubs. Does this mean we are gonna try and make the best reciever in chicago a starting pitcher again? I mean if his fastball keeps hitting 99mph maybe he could be a more reliable closer that CarMar (made that up myself)
i think michigan goat is dead on with his fears about garza’s emotions, a mini z in waiting.
Or Garza’s another Jered Weaver solely from the standpoint of emotion. Didn’t he just sign an extension?
An undermarket extension, arguably.
Wonder how much Garza could get on a five year deal…?